I graduated last week.
I am a really mechanical engineer now!
And a real physicist.


I stole this picture from Anna. Maybe I will post more later, but they are all on my flash drive, which is on my keys, which is in my room, and I don't want to walk back there because I am making chicken pot pie and german chocolate cake for dinner. I like cooking. I start classes again Tuesday. I am paying for my summer classes so I can finish my degree in a year. I didn't realize summer classes cost SO much more then regular schooling. Yikes. $444 a credit hour. I am taking 6 credit hours. The school would pay for them if I did my degree in two years, but I am trying to finish in a year.

Have you read about this? I felt like crying when I read this. I have always really like Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. They seem so real.

Maria Sue Chapman (2003-2008)
Maria Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter to Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident in the family driveway on Wednesday evening. She was LifeFlighted to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she went home to Him... not to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.

Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours before this close knit family was celebrating the engagement of the oldest daughter Emily Chapman, and were just hours away from a graduation party marking Caleb Chapman's completion of high school. Now, they are preparing to bury a child who blew out 5 candles on a birthday cake less than 10 days ago. These words are unthinkable to type. And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again. - Jim Houser (Manager)

What this quote doesn't mention is that one of his sons was driving the car. That makes it incredibly harder on the family. Please pray.
* By mail, send to PO Box 150156 Nashville, TN 37215.
* In lieu of flowers, the Chapmans request any gifts be directed to Shaohannah’s Hope.

In the words of SCC:
"We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end."

edit: Thursday morning

At 9:45 I finished my last exam and left 15 minutes early to go figure out grad school stuff yet again (I am trying to sign up for two classes and one of them isn't showing up...anyhow). At noon I turned in my journal paper. So that means... I am finished undergraduate schooling forever!! And now I am going to go play soccer with Andrew and Chris. Then gym with Michelle one last time before she leaves me. Tonight I am going to dinner with my small group and then Michelle and I are going to watch movies tonight (I'll probably crash since I only had two hours of sleep). Tomorrow I am going to go bike riding with the Howards to get ice cream and then graduation!!! la la la. Who ever thought I would graduate college, God is great. Through my weakness He is strong. :D Weeeeeeeeeeee!

I'm just going to just write down here because it is along the same line of thought. Soccer yesterday day was amazing. I love playing soccer and it rained yesterday for a while during the time we were playing and that made it all the more better. Plus, it was only me and 7 of my favorite guys on campus playing, so that was even better. And I can still play soccer, which is sweet!! So that was great. Then I went on a trip to Michelle's house (in Odenton) to pick up her honor cords that she forgot (no, I didn't buy honor cords because I didn't feel like paying the money for them). Then we took showers and headed to DC for dinner! *green turtle doot doot* Dinner was really good and laughing with all the girls was a blast. Then we headed back to Michelle's house to watch Equilibrium. But the guys called and wanted to play signs. So they came over around 10:30 and stayed to 3 playing signs.

Signs is this new game I just learned. Each person has a sign (like mine was looking at my watch and Andrews was throwing a frisbee and Alision's was opening a book...etc). There is this invisible ball that you are trying to pass around the circle and hide from whomever is in the middle. To pass the ball you must first do your sign (to show that you received the ball) then do someone else's sign (to send the ball), that person must see you and accept the ball by doing their sign and then pass the ball along. It sounds complicated, but it is really fun. The person in the middle goes around asking people if they have the ball until they catch a glimpse of the signs and can follow them to a person and make someone mess up or have the ball for longer than three seconds. It gets pretty intense at some points.

Then I crashed on the floor and slept until 7. And then I went back to the Howard's and slept some more until now (10:50) and now I am going to get dressed to go on a bike ride with the Howard's. We are going to get ice cream. Woohoo. Tonight I am coming home to pack some stuff, get a good night sleep, wake up early to make the Howard's Swedish pancakes tomorrow, and go to graduation!!

Life at school, without school, is great fun. :D I should hang around after finals more often. Everyone but the seniors are leaving this morning though... sad sad sad. I am glad I am coming back next year to see almost everyone.

Best Friends

Anna took us on a photoshoot to Pemberton. I love these pictures. I love these people! I love being home; six days to graduation. :D

Today is national Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!!

*hint*
*hint*

I love chocolate chip cookies. I'll give rain checks and you can send them to me next semester. :D We can pretend that September 20 or October 11 is ccc day and I'll enjoy them just as much (for those of you who didn't plan ahead this year to send me cookies today - heh).

(Scott, Fred (and yes, I am always on a team with another F name making it impossible to assign things by letter - I just think it is funny that I am always with a F since there are so few F names), Allison, Me)
(Cameron, Fred, Me)

Since I haven't posted pictures of me for a while... here are two from today. This is my senior project prototype... (Dad the second one of the back of my head is for you - note the beautiful circuit board and me hooking in the voltmeter - isn't it great? :D Oh, you can also see the red bucket playing double duty by running up the stairs and back down the stairs to act as the holder). Anyhow, sorry but I can't really explain what is going on in these pictures for patten purposes. This is only the prototype, the actual system looks a lot cooler. But I thought I would post pictures (one of the guys is taking the photos - so he isn't in the pictures) of the best team that I have ever had (the best team comes with drawbacks though, they work too hard and we spend too much time in meetings - heh). But if that is what I have to give up to not have to write the entire report (like I have in previous semesters), it is a small price to pay. Anyhow... here is what I have been working on for 16 weeks. It is pretty exciting! The final report is single spaced and 120 pages and the final presentation is tomorrow. I get to wear a suit!! :)

I turned in homework yesterday and that 120 page final project report. I took one final exam today and turned in a presentation for that class and a homework set. I have my final presentation for my senior project tomorrow. And then all I will have left are:

* Mechanics Final (Saturday --> requested to be moved to Tuesday at 2pm and granted. YES!!)

* Reliability Final (Wednesday 8am)

*Reliability Journal Paper (Wednesday 5pm)

* Graduation Main Commencement (Thursday night May 22)

* Graduation School Commencement (Friday noon May 23) and I am so glad I refused to speak at graduation. That would be too much pressure.

Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”

I've had those words stuck in my head for the past two days so I thought I would post them here. In other news, I finally got my admission to the graduate school moved from Fall 2008 to Summer 2008. YES!! That means I can take two classes this summer and only have six more to graduation!! I love jumping through all the hoops and filling out all the paperwork to get what I need done. Also for more exciting news, I just bought Jared his birthday present (see below picture). Aren't they nice? I like them. And I am coming home this weekend!! I requested that my Saturday exam be postponed (I have never done that before), but I wanted to be home this weekend. So, I am taking a make-up exam on Tuesday instead. It will be a lot of work on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I will have Saturday free now! Woohoo.

Oh the deep deep love

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbid to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love,
Amazing grace

My Dad, Mom, Sarah, Hope, and Jared all came up today and went to church with me and brought me strawberries!! YAY! I made swedish pancakes, peaches, fried apples, and sausages for breakfast (I made them for my small group on Wednesday and I had leftover material). Double YAY! It was so great to see my family and go to church with people I know. Thanks! I really appreciate you driving all the way up here to spend the day with me. :D You have started my week off well.

And Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

I love you so much.

12 days

My life as a Dilbert comic strip... I laughed outloud at this today. Maybe because this is what I am doing for my final reports. They ask us to quote so many cost figures on everything under the sun and how much you think the user is going to have to pay over the entire lifetime of the machine... and on and on and on. So yeah. A lot of it is guessing and using some formulas that sort of make it look more official. It still takes a long time.


This is the comic (thanks to Jared) that started me reading (and enjoying) Dilbert. heh.

C.J. Mahaney is awesome!! He is coming out with a new book soon that is called Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World. It comes out in September. But he is previewing parts of the book on his blog right now. This is the 2nd of seven parts (he only has five of them up so far). I think this book sounds like it would be good for many small groups and young women. His latest section (section five) is about the father's responsibility to the daughters. Take your Dad shopping; it is fun. :) Anyhow, I really like this post. He gets to the heart of the matter. I think the American church is afraid to do that a lot of the time. We seem to treat the symptoms but not the cause. And a lot of us don't think because we don't struggle with the same thing guys do. That is dumb. God says to encourage both your brothers and sisters to Godliness. Anyhow, I like the way CJ puts this.

"Any biblical discussion of modesty begins by addressing the heart, not the hemline. We must start with the attitude of the modest woman.

This emphasis on the heart is front and center in 1 Timothy 2:9. Note the phrase “with modesty and self-control.” All respectable apparel is the result of a godly heart, where modesty and self-control originate. Your wardrobe is a public statement of your personal and private motivation. And if you profess godliness, you should be concerned with cultivating these twin virtues, modesty and self-control.

Modesty means propriety. It means avoiding clothes and adornment that are extravagant or sexually enticing. Modesty is humility expressed in dress. It’s a desire to serve others, particularly men, by not promoting or provoking sensuality.

Immodesty, then, is much more than wearing a short skirt or low-cut top; it’s the act of drawing undue attention to yourself. It’s pride, on display by what you wear.

Self-control is, in a word, restraint. Restraint for the purpose of purity; restraint for the purpose of exalting God and not ourselves. Together, these attitudes of modesty and self-control should be the hallmark of the godly woman’s dress.

In Paul and Timothy’s day, modesty and self-control were foreign to many women walking through the local marketplace, just as they were to Jenni and are to the majority of women at the local shopping mall today. And these concepts are certainly foreign to modern fashion designers, whose goal in clothing design is sensual provocation.

But for godly women, modesty and self-control are to be distinctly present in the heart. The question is, are they distinctly present in yours?

Such an attitude will make all the difference in a woman’s dress, as pastor John MacArthur has observed:

How does a woman discern the sometimes fine line between proper dress and dressing to be the center of attention? The answer starts in the intent of the heart. A woman should examine her motives and goals for the way she dresses. Is her intent to show the grace and beauty of womanhood?.... Is it to reveal a humble heart devoted to worshiping God? Or is it to call attention to herself, and flaunt her…beauty? Or worse, to attempt to allure men sexually? A woman who focuses on worshiping God will consider carefully how she is dressed, because her heart will dictate her wardrobe and appearance.*

Any conversation about modesty “starts in the intent of the heart.” So consider for a moment, what is the intent of your heart in purchasing clothes to wear? Does a humble heart and a servant’s heart dictate your wardrobe and appearance? Is your shopping informed and governed by modesty and restraint? Or is your dress motivated by a desire for attention and approval from others? Does your style reflect a lack of self-control?

There’s an inseparable link between your heart and your clothes. Your clothes say something about your attitude. If they don’t express a heart that is humble, that desires to please God, that longs to serve others, that’s modest, that exercises self-control, then change must begin in the heart.

For modesty is humility expressed in dress."

edit1: blue (May 6)

There isn't too much interesting stuff happening to talk about. Here is my list of things to do before the semester is finished (oh and I graduate...):

This week:
* I-Beam Built and tested (this Friday, May 2 - finished)
* 8 homework problems for Mechanics (Monday, May 5)
* Senior Class Homework - 3 pages essay on modeling methods (Tuesday, May 6)
* Senior Final Project Report Draft - we are up to 130 pages so far (single spaced) ... (Wednesday, May 7)
* At least a four page essay on Reliability and Absolute limits on parts (Wednesday, May 7)
* Build prototype of turbine (Wednesday, May 7)
* Programming code homework - I have never programmed before this homework is impossible, so far it is 150 lines of code... and I'm like half finished (Thursday, May 8)
* Final Senior Report Due (Friday, May 9)
* Beam Report - already written - 14 pages single spaced (May 9)


Next week:
* 4 homework problems (Monday, May 12)
* Reliability 4 homework problems (Monday, May 12)
* Grad Class Final (Tuesday, May 13)
* Final Presentation Due and Given in Senior Project (Wednesday, May 14)
* Mechanics Final (Saturday, May 17)

The next week after that:
* Grad Class presentation due (Monday, May 19)
* Reliability (grad class) Final (Wednesday, May 21)
* Reliability Journal Paper Due - so far this is 11 pages, single spaced, 10 font....yeah, bleh...(Wednesday, May 21)

*GRADUATION!!!

(Friday, May 23)

Gray text is stuff I have already finished and have marked off my list. The beam project is for my mechanics of materials class - we had to build and I-beam that held 1000 pounds and broke right afterwards. The team that had a beam that reached 1000 lbs and then broke the closest to it won. Out of 120 students, our beam broke the closest at 1069 lbs. It is funny to me since we didn't do any work on the beam at all. My beam partner and I are both seniors and have too much other work to do so we just built the thing because we didn't have time to do any real calculations. I mean, we did a few, but once we got a number that looked good we went with that and didn't try any other designs. So that was pretty nice. ha.

Today, I have spent almost the entire day programming in the wonderful language of Matlab (which really isn't a language... I don't know what you would call it). I am trying to get this wave to propagate over a board so that it can search for the quickest way to route a board with the least amount of wire and the most efficient way. It is SOOO frustrating because I know what I want it to do, but it doesn't do what I want it to do. It is sort of like my flesh. I am sure there is some lesson in this... like stick with battling against the flesh even when it is hard and you are discouraged.

Stef also called me today, which was awesome. I miss my good friend Stef so much some days. Almost as much as I miss my family. Life just isn't as much fun without them around. I am always so happy to hear from her and all about her new life. For some reason I have taken like no pictures with Stef. I guess since we are always on the move when we are together and don't have time for that kind of nonsense. heh. I'd post a picture of her and me, but I can't find any. Anyhow, I thank God for Stephanie Hornor and her friendship. It is a blessing and a great encouragement.

I got to see Derek Webb in concert last night with Sandra McCraken (his wife - my favorite song by her was Goodbye George) at this fun little coffee house right near Tysons Corner Virginia (Vienna I think). Anyhow, I liked Derek Webbs music before I went, but after seeing him in concert I like him even more. He and his wife both sang some of their solo stuff (with one of them playing in the background - they both played guitar and would harmonize with each other - it was really neat - if I could sing I think it would be awesome to write and play music with my husband). They were just so adorable together. It was so cute to watch. And then they sang songs together from their new ep called Ampersand (how cool is that?!?). I love the word Ampersand. Ampersand & ampersand. :D Anyhow, it was a really nice study break just to go down there with some of my friends for his show. He is really entertaining in concert.

And this is one of my favorite songs that we sing at RUF... I found them singing it on youtube. They sound better in concert.

Download the new Coldplay song for FREE tomorrow!!

Thanks Coldplay!

And a free show... details to come...

I love these people!!

These are my favorite six people in the entire world (and a random uncle in the first picture)!! I can't wait to come home and spend some of my summer with them! I miss them all so much. Aren't they beautiful?!? I love them each so much. I have the perfect family; I love being a Harr. It is a great life. Thank God for a family that loves me and cares for me and makes me laugh so often. What fun. I love you all!! I was sitting around thinking about how wonderful you are and how much I miss having you all around last night. It made me very sad. So I just thought I would take the time to tell you all how much I love each and every one of you. :D You are my favorite people in the entire world and I thank God for you all.

Things I LOVE about Spring:
* The smell of fresh cut grass
* Mud between my toes
* Flip Flops
* Dresses and Skirts
* Jumping in puddles
* Flowers in all colors
* Playing outside
* Open windows
* The smell and feel of warm rain

Praise God for changing seasons. Spring is always something to look forward to. I love spring. If I didn't have school it would be my favorite season. I think once school is out spring is going to trump summer and become my favorite season. :D So I guess this is summer's last year as number one. heh.

Blogger just ate my post.

Blah.

Went off to school and learned to serve the state
Followed the rules and drank his vodka straight
The only way to live was drown the hate
A Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad
-Billy Joel

I woke up at five, drove over 100 miles, waited in line for over an hour, and then found out that the FE was cancelled and postponed to a "later secret date". We will be informed by letter when that date is. So I guess I just sit around and wait for it and keep studying. That has to be one of the most maddening mornings I have experienced in a long time... They could at least offer to pay for gas money seeing as it is so expensive (I paid $3.39/gallon yesterday - or $63.97 to fill my whole car). It was a circus. We had to go to the bathroom before the exam because they said they wouldn't allow us to use the restroom during the exam (WHAT?). We weren't allowed to take anything into the bathroom and there could only be one of us in the bathroom at a time. There was only one toilet. It is held at this national guard armory which is made of stone and looks like a big fortress/prison building. I imagine life in the USSR to be somewhat of what I experienced today at this place. It was deary, dull, and people kept yelling at me to do certain things or to not do other things. We all stood in line quietly with our yellow permission slips of paper, our government issued photo ID, and hard candy (if anyone had food that would take it away from you). They were also making people take off their hooded sweatshirts and checking all calculators to make sure that they all conformed to the standards. Yeah, I'm surprised they were frisking us too. I never got up to the check in desk though, so they might have been. At least I know how to get up there now... I have such fun to look forward to at this later secret date...

Story: I got to this stone armory building and walked to stand in line around 6:45am. After waiting in line forever (excluding a bathroom break from hell - we basically had to stand next to the wall and put all our testing materials down on the ground and file one at a time into the restroom while people were yelling at us), we started getting worried because it was 7:45 and we were supposed to be seated by then. Finally around 7:50 a man sticks his head out the door and says, hold on, we are going to let you in in a minute. Then around 7:55 they let everyone in. They didn't ask for our IDs or check our permission sheets. So we all filed into the main testing room and they yelled at us not to touch anything. Once we were all in this old man gets up to the microphone and says, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news, you have more time to study. The bad news, you will have to come back to take the exam." You can bet that wasn't met with the warmest welcome ever. ha. I mean, who announces a cancelled exam like that. We have had plenty of time to study! We don't want anymore time to study. That isn't good news to any of us. He then went on to say that they would contact us with a new exam day sometime... This exam is given national only twice a year. So to reschedule is going to be a big deal. I can't imagine having to take it again for at least a month. My best bet is sometime this summer. Woohoo! More studying. It is a good thing I don't really have any summer plans yet.

I guess I'll go start my four projects now or my three sets of homework due next week...

Thanks for your prayers! heh.

I wrote this nice post the other day, but the computer ate it. And since I am studying for this FE exam I figured that I had wasted enough time that day, however, I feel like I should update my blog with something. I was thinking about what I could write about that everyone might be interested in, I could talk about the beautiful cherry blossoms that the Howard's took me to see last week, or how I had lunch with Sarah Meadows yesterday, or about the four different projects that I have to finish before May 10th (three of which I haven't started (two journal papers on how film capacitors fail and the reliability issues with them (don't ask me how they work, I haven't quite figured that out yet), a powerpoint and paper on how to work this computer program that builds circuit boards and routs the wires (which I don't know how to use yet and need to learn), and a building bridge or smoothing structural (which the professor hasn't assigned yet) or how I love the gym or how John (the intern in the basement) and I have almost finished the tree puzzle.

I opted instead to tell you all how much that I like one of my good friends, Jared Shelton, and how I think he is great (and am very thankful that he is my friend). He drove all the way up this morning to come to church with me because he knew that I was all stressed out about the FE and school in general. So he drove two hours to go to church with me and talk to a bunch of people that he doesn't know just because he knew it would make me happier. (On a side note: I totally miss my church. It is amazing and I have never been to a church I like more. Please keep up with your friendliness. It is so boring to not have anyone talk to you and be interested in your life. I love my church.) I just think that is totally sweet and awesome and worth a blog entry. We went to church, then to Chris's house for lunch with RUF, and then to walk around IKEA to check out furniture for Jared's new house. Then Jared had to leave to get back to Sunday evening church, which I also miss like crazy! I always really miss my church on Sundays. Sundays make me homesick for Salisbury more than any other day.

So Jared, if you decide to read my blog this week, thank you for being a dear friend and thank you for driving all the way up here (in the rain) and back to spend six hours of your day with me and four hours driving. Thank you for making me smile and for being a big goober. Sometimes I just need to take a break and laugh. Also, thank you for being serious and listening when I need that too. I thank God for you and for everything He has taught me through you, both the good things and the bad. I start to see how ALL things work for His glory and the good of those who love Him.

46 days until graduation...

There is something very rewarding about getting down on your hands and knees and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom floors. I really enjoy it. I don't enjoy how my hands feel all dried out afterwards, but oh well. I think it would be fun to clean my own floors, well until kids come and then I don't have time to clean the floors and I start going crazy because there is so much to do and I don't have time to do it all. I appreciate being single (single in the sense that I am not married) and childless while I am in school.

And there is something else rewarding about going running at 7:30 in the crisp spring mornings. Ah! It was beautiful out this morning. God has blessed us so much by surrounding us with such beauty. Have you looked at the trees this year? Maybe there are just more of them around this area, but the pink and white cherry blossoms are incredible!! I love them.

Alright, I have to get back to studying for the FE. Two weeks and a few hours until it is all over. I still don't know how I am going to last through an eight how exam - does one's brain work that long? If you think of me in the next two weeks, please pray that I can think clearly for that long and that I get a good night sleep before the exam (April 12th). Thanks!

Oh and thanks to Anna and Emily for coming to visit me on Wednesday! That was so great. You make me so happy. :) I love seeing people I know from home. There is just something great about a little bit of home being here for just a short while. It makes it less lonely and foreign. Below pictures from our Ikea shopping trip (where we ate six huge cinnamon buns). We also went frolfing and to Chipotle!!!

Until next time,
Faith

I really like my name.

A few things I love and experienced over spring break:

* My dad and Mr. Harts Sunday School class
* all the people in the previously mentioned Sunday school class
* my mom's baked chicken
* pineapple
* Hannah and Patrick (and cheese)
* my mom's fudge!
* my brother's sense of humor
* cribbage
* Mrs. Shelton's Swedish pancakes
* finishing crossword puzzles with Jared
* long talks
* boggle
* my sisters
* long walks
* the Taylors (family and house)
* Mary's delight
* rummy
* UNC winning
* Leeland and Casting Crowns
* wearing dresses and skirts
* matching Jared
* chinatown
* flowers!
* getting to use my awesome vase
* wonderful family
* great friends
* sweet Jared

* oh and no classes :D